In a Research-Writing Frame of Mind

Librarians have been coordinating with composition instructors to offer information literacy instruction in composition classrooms long enough that it can no longer be considered a new trend, but rather a standard feature of many information literacy programs. Sometimes this collaboration comes in the form of a one-shot, sometimes the librarian is embedded, and sometimes the librarian is a co-instructor. Information literacy and composition are often intertwined in higher education; recently, the professional organizations associated with writing programs and with information literacy programs have developed documents to define the characteristics, habits and dispositions of successful students. The documents, the Framework for Success in Postsecondary Writing and the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education, lay out frames that describe students who write and manage information well. The publication of these two Frameworks provides an opportunity for practitioners to examine the relationship between writing and information literacy, what writing instructors often refer to as research-writing skills. Intended for librarians and composition instructors, this book chapter examines how teachers of writing and research skills can enhance their understanding of the two Frameworks as being similar and linked with one another, and by doing so become more effective teachers. This chapter makes the intersections of information-using and writing that exist implicitly in practice explicit for students as it explores ways to better integrate writing and research instruction in composition and information literacy classrooms. It does so by looking at how the intersections between the Frameworks inform writing and library instruction pedagogy providing examples of writing and information-using assignments based on the Frameworks

Thirty-four Kilometers and Fifteen Years : Rapid Adaptation at a Novel Chromosomal Inversion in Recently Introduced Deschutes River Three-spined Stickleback

Rapid adaptation and evolution based on standing genetic variation and novel mutations is likely to be one of the primary ways that species survive the widespread anthropogenic environmental changes expected of the next century. Three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) are known to be capable of extremely quick, dramatic adaptation in response to similarly dramatic environmental changes, such as a transition from a salt to freshwater environment. In this study, we present evidence which shows selection has caused large increases in the frequency (1,784-6,482% relative increase) of a novel chromosomal inversion on LG IX in a recently introduced population of stickleback in the Deschutes River, Oregon, over approximately 35 years. This evidence suggests that subtle, watershed scale differences in environmental conditions can drive rapid evolution in stickleback, and possibly other fish species, over very short periods of time, which may aid those species both in surviving disturbances and in invading new ecosystems

Estimating Historical Sage-Grouse Habitat Abundance Using a State-and-Transition Model

Use of reference conditions to compare current conditions what managers believed represented healthy and functioning systems has become a common approach to evaluate vegetation and habitat conditions and aid development of land management plans. Often reference conditions attempt to describe landscapes as they existed and functioned prior to about 1850, and often largely rely on expert opinion. We developed reference conditions for sagebrush (Artemisia spp. L.) ecosystems in eastern Oregon based on ecological site descriptions, soil surveys, climate data, wildfire records, expert opinion, and literature using a state-and-transition (STM) modeling framework. Using ecological site descriptions for the Malheur High Plateau Major Land Resource Area (MHP), we divided sagebrush communities into four groups based on grass productivity in low, average and high productivity years. Literature helped us determine which disturbance factors to include, the community phases for each model, and associated seasonal habitat for greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus). We developed successional timelines in the absence of disturbance, and determined the probable outcomes of a given type of disturbance event. We used fire records and climate data to develop disturbance event probabilities and periodicities. Contrary to our expectations, fire did not appear to be the most important factor influencing sagebrush ecosystems under reference conditions in our models. The modeled historical abundance of sage-grouse breeding and brood-rearing habitat was within range of or greater than the amount recommended by sage-grouse biologists, but the abundance of wintering habitat was less. By using objective criteria as much as possible, our approach should also be repeatable in other locations. Since we used climate criteria to define most disturbance probabilities, our models provide an opportunity to examine how changes in climate could affect plant communities, disturbance regimes, and the quality and quantity of sage-grouse habitat in future modeling efforts

In a Research-Writing Frame of Mind

Librarians have been coordinating with composition instructors to offer information literacy instruction in composition classrooms long enough that it can no longer be considered a new trend, but rather a standard feature of many information literacy programs. Sometimes this collaboration comes in the form of a one-shot, sometimes the librarian is embedded, and sometimes the librarian is a co-instructor. Information literacy and composition are often intertwined in higher education; recently, the professional organizations associated with writing programs and with information literacy programs have developed documents to define the characteristics, habits and dispositions of successful students. The documents, the Framework for Success in Postsecondary Writing and the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education, lay out frames that describe students who write and manage information well. The publication of these two Frameworks provides an opportunity for practitioners to examine the relationship between writing and information literacy, what writing instructors often refer to as research-writing skills. Intended for librarians and composition instructors, this book chapter examines how teachers of writing and research skills can enhance their understanding of the two Frameworks as being similar and linked with one another, and by doing so become more effective teachers. This chapter makes the intersections of information-using and writing that exist implicitly in practice explicit for students as it explores ways to better integrate writing and research instruction in composition and information literacy classrooms. It does so by looking at how the intersections between the Frameworks inform writing and library instruction pedagogy providing examples of writing and information-using assignments based on the Frameworks

Communities of Information: Information Literacy and Discourse Community Instruction in First Year Writing Courses

The artifacts of discourse (print texts, recordings, Web documents, etc.) are information, and as such fall under the umbrellas of both discourse communities and information literacy. Since the product of a discourse community is information, and in a first-year writing course students are both learning how to navigate and to join discourse communities, students should be taught about discourse communities and information as linked ideas. We reframe the idea of discourse communities as information communities that share aspects of both John Swales’s definition of discourse communities and the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. By presenting these ideas as intertwined, not only do students learn about the features of different types of communication in a given field, they begin to think of the artifacts of that communication and how it is organized, shared, and created. In this chapter we give examples of how to explicitly draw together some of Swales’s characteristics of a discourse community and the Framework. In addition to tying together concepts from information literacy and discourse communities, we provide examples of assignments that can be used in the composition classroom

Divergent trends in ecosystem services under different climate-management futures in a fire-prone forest landscape

While ecosystem services and climate change are often examined independently, quantitative assessments integrating these fields are needed to inform future land management decisions. Using climate-informed state-and-transition simulations, we examined projected trends and trade-offs for a suite of ecosystem services under four climate change scenarios and two management scenarios (active management emphasizing fuel treatments and no management other than fire suppression) in a fire-prone landscape of dry and moist mixed-conifer forests in central Oregon, USA. Focal ecosystem services included fire potential (regulating service), timber volume (provisioning service), and potential wildlife habitat (supporting service). Projections without climate change suggested active management in dry mixed-conifer forests would create more open forest structures, reduce crown fire potential, and maintain timber stocks, while in moist mixed-conifer forests, active management would reduce crown fire potential but at the expense of timber stocks. When climate change was considered, however, trends in most ecosystem services changed substantially, with large increases in wildfire area predominating broad-scale trends in outputs, regardless of management approach (e.g., strong declines in timber stocks and habitat for closed-forest wildlife species). Active management still had an influence under a changing climate, but as a moderator of the strong climate-driven trends rather than being a principal driver of ecosystem service outputs. These results suggest projections of future ecosystem services that do not consider climate change may result in unrealistic expectations of benefits

Integrated Landscape Assessment Project final report

The Integrated Landscape Assessment Project (ILAP) was a multi-year effort to produce information, maps, and models to help land managers, policy-makers, and others conduct mid- to broad-scale (e.g., watersheds to states and larger areas) prioritization of land management actions, perform landscape assessments, and estimate cumulative effects of management actions for planning and other purposes. ILAP provided complete cross-ownership geospatial data and maps on current vegetation, potential vegetation, land ownership and management allocation classes, and other landscape attributes across Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington. State-and-transition models (STMs) were developed to cover all major upland vegetation types in the four states. These models incorporate vegetation succession, management actions, and natural disturbances to allow users to examine the mid- and long-term effects of alternative management and disturbance scenarios. New STM linkages to wildlife habitat, fuel treatment and community economics, above ground carbon pools, biomass, and wildfire hazard were developed and integrated at landscape scales. Climatized STMs were developed for focus areas in Oregon and Arizona to examine potential effects of climate change on potential future vegetation conditions. The Pacific Northwest Research Station in conjunction with Oregon State University spent several years and considerable effort developing and supporting the Interagency Mapping and Assessment Project (IMAP), an interagency collaborative effort to transfer landscape assessment tools to land managers and others. As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, this 10-year IMAP collaborative effort was expanded to create the Integrated Landscape Assessment Project (ILAP) which was charged to identify and analyze areas within the states of Oregon, Washington, New Mexico, and Arizona that could inform economically viable fuel reduction and restoration activities. Over the course of the past three years, ILAP has produced consistent, integrated vegetation data sets and models for millions of acres across the American Northwest and Southwest, allowing decision makers to explore possible changes in landscape conditions under different management scenarios across all lands. ILAP’s all-lands focus makes it particularly applicable, given that the complexity of natural resource management has grown well beyond ownership boundaries. ILAP has become known as an innovative tool for informing management decisions across all major upland vegetation systems at a watershed scale. Through user-friendly maps, graphs, and tables, ILAP creates a decision support framework for comparing different management scenarios. This kind of “what if” exercise provides a unique opportunity to understand the interactions among biophysical, social, and economic factors that determine the dynamic of a landscape.Keywords: climate, conservation, restoration, landscapes, wildlife, wildfire, data, rura